By choosing to post the reply below you agree to the rules you agreed to when joining Sailnet.
Click Here to view those rules.

Message:

Trackback:

Send Trackbacks to (Separate multiple URLs with spaces) :

Post Icons

You may choose an icon for your message from the following list:

No icon

Register Now

In order to be able to post messages on the SailNet Community forums, you must first register. Please enter your desired user name, your email address and other required details in the form below.Please note: After entering 3 characters a list of Usernames already in use will appear and the list will disappear once a valid Username is entered.

User Name:

Password

Please enter a password for your user account. Note that passwords are case-sensitive.

Password:

Confirm Password:

Email Address

Please enter a valid email address for yourself.

Email Address:

Log-in

User Name

Remember Me?

Password

Human Verification

In order to verify that you are a human and not a spam bot, please enter the answer into the following box below based on the instructions contained in the graphic.

Click here to view the posting rules you are bound to when clicking the'Submit Reply' button below

Additional Options

Miscellaneous Options

Automatically parse links in text

Automatically embed media (requires automatic parsing of links in text to be on).

Automatically retrieve titles from external links

Click here to view the posting rules you are bound to when clicking the'Submit Reply' button below

Topic Review (Newest First)

02-07-2012 11:59 AM

sterilecuckoo58

Lots of food , er PVC, for thought here. We have an 8' ? Achilles with a 3 section wood floor and a 24 Vivacity. We have discovered if you leave it in the water by the dock it grows things on it (barnacles, slime and other crud). Use of a grinder will remove the barnacles (and plastic), and it gets full of water (great for the wood floor). Its heavy and a tough fit on the bow (can't sail with it). Its a drag to tow (and V24 is slow to begin with), but that's what we've done for weekends.

SO... my lady just had a great fun experience sailing a Laser Pico (Caribbean business trip) which has rekindled the idea of a sailing dinghy that works with oars back and forth from shore or dock for 4 people, and is fun to sail with 2 people. I imagine a hard bottom can be much less drag too. Any suggestions? Building one is not out of the question. Buying a new one is.

I am also thinking about kayaks but have no swim platform. Beam is 8-ft so I can' really have anything longer on davits. But maybe that's the way to go with the Achilles.

02-02-2012 03:22 PM

hellosailor

That's a relief, I won't have to stockpile spares. (G)

But apparently we've all committed a "Kleenex" here, Hypalon is a DuPont trademark for their specific version of a CSM. So there is no more Hypalon.

"Hypalon has become the common name for all kinds of CSM, ... Tosoh Corporation of Japan produces CSM under the trade names Toso-CSM...." [Wikipedia]

We'll be buying Toso-CSM. (Gesundheit?)

Odd that DuPont would terminate a line due to environmental considerations, and a Japanese domestic corporation would still be committed to toxic waste? Then again, I was told I couldn't replace my old Vredstein urethane sea boots for the same reason, supposedly they said too toxic to manufacture. Damn shame, they were nice dry boots with a good grip.

02-02-2012 02:31 PM

TohatsuGuru

Quote:

Originally Posted by hellosailor

DuPont™ Hypalon®
Update as 04/20/2010

The DuPont Performance Elastomers Hypalon® business has ceased operations as of April 20, 2010. The planned closure was initially announced in 2009, and the plant operation was extended to support the needs of customers through the transition process.

We are no longer offering Hypalon® product for sale. If you are interested in a replacement product, please view the broader DuPont portfolio for other Elastomers that may fit your application needs
---------------------------------------------------

While Hypalon boats may still be in stock, they apparently won't be around much longer since the material is no longer available. Ignoring the quality controls issues that cause seam failures in all glued materials, Hypalon remains a much more expensive, and physically superior, material to build inflateables out of. Hypalon with welded seams, instead of glued ones, being the most expensive and most durable way to go.

Hypalon is still being manufactured, only now it is under the name of CSM. Depending on the manufacturer of the inflatable you will see one name or the other being used. Also, Hypalon cannot be welded.

01-31-2012 08:59 PM

84westy

I purchased an 8'6" Avon Hypalon air floor and have been pleased with performance. It is relatively light weight and packs up small.

I have a Nissan 5hp 2 cycle that is lightweight and adequately powered. There are different prop options for this engine, and the higher pitch makes the boat plane with one person in it. While planing, the GPS says 13 knots. With more people and a dog aboard, GPS indicates 6 knots. I believe the current prop is a 9 pitch and the original was a 7.

I usually leave the dingy inflated and hang the outboard on the stern rail. I have put it on the front deck and inflated it there, but usually tow it (Tennessee River in North Alabama).

If I had it to do over, I would get a rigid bottom that was a little bit bigger. The boat does well when I'm by myself, but with others it gets sluggish if traveling much distance.

01-29-2012 04:41 PM

tdw

2.85m (9') Zodiac air floor with 8hp Yamaha.

Only used when cruising. Stows in cockpit locker longterm, fore deck when going coastal or offshore, towed in harbour. Donk on stern rail with block and tackle for lowering/raising to/from dink. Never ever leave it on the dink when towing.

Previous boat we had an 8' cheapy with slat floor. Have also owned an 8' Avon with timber floor.

Given that the only place to inflate is foredeck and therefore rarely completely flat surface, air floor is the only way to go. Timber floor complete pain in the arse, slats marginally better.

High speed pump recommended. Best to connect directly to batteries but they will pump to full pressure in a matter of minutes. If pumping up for long term use we still give a few hand pumps but for a day or so no need.

42'er has sufficient foredeck space to stow on deck and still leave room for moving about but the dink does get in the way of the mast mounted spinnaker pole if lashed down hard against the mast.

8hp motor is too big. Quite frankly I have no need to do 20 knots through an anchorage and curse those who do. A 6 or even 4hp would serve our purpose and be so much lighter and easier to handle.

We have a hard dink for ship to shore in mooring field and will tow that for weekends if we intend just going off to anchor out. Most of our sailing is done outside the harbour and I don't like towing in the inevitable swell.

01-29-2012 02:03 PM

hellosailor

DuPont™ Hypalon®
Update as 04/20/2010

The DuPont Performance Elastomers Hypalon® business has ceased operations as of April 20, 2010. The planned closure was initially announced in 2009, and the plant operation was extended to support the needs of customers through the transition process.

We are no longer offering Hypalon® product for sale. If you are interested in a replacement product, please view the broader DuPont portfolio for other Elastomers that may fit your application needs
---------------------------------------------------

While Hypalon boats may still be in stock, they apparently won't be around much longer since the material is no longer available. Ignoring the quality controls issues that cause seam failures in all glued materials, Hypalon remains a much more expensive, and physically superior, material to build inflateables out of. Hypalon with welded seams, instead of glued ones, being the most expensive and most durable way to go.

01-29-2012 03:40 AM

INMA

I had a European made second hand hypalong dingy which had the glue fail in about 1 week of tropical conditions. I did field repairs but it was continually getting worse as the tropical heat reduced the glue to powder. After 4 weeks cruising and asking people about their experiences with inflatables, most people showed us their running repairs or told us of their warranty issues.

I have to admit a Zodiac that had had similar failures 10 years earlier was repaired under warranty by the Australian agent and had done good service since the repairs. But there were a number of cheaper tenders with patches over failed bits and then layers of patches over the patches as the owners kept the field repairs up.

My solution was to throw the inflatable out (I gave it to someone to repair and use as a kids toy) and replace it with a hard dingy. I ended up with a Walker Bay 10 which is tough enough although there are more stable dingies more suited to my needs.

I have used a 3.3hp two stroke on the inflatable and WB10 and it has ample power for my needs. I tow the WB10 and put up with the hassle of shifting the outboard of the dingy when doing open water transits.

My yacht is a trailerable, I carry the dingy on roofracks when on the road.

If you are cruising in cooler climates and near support, then a cheap inflatable might be ok but if you need the dingy to make a longer cruise viable, then spend the effort getting a good quality dingy that is reliable.

01-28-2012 11:58 PM

rwy36

One thing to consider with the more expensive Hypalon-tubed boats is that the inflatable air deck is PVC (usually), so it will have a shorter lifespan than the tubes. The earlier suggestion about using indoor/outdoor carpet is a good one - we had our air deck get punctured by a sharp spur on a block of ice last year (!) which we then replaced when we couldn't get the patch to hold. If we had the carpet on the air deck, that probably wouldn't have happened.

Bill

01-28-2012 09:50 PM

mikieg

how long has hypalon been on the scene?

01-28-2012 09:40 PM

TohatsuGuru

No one buys slat floor inflatables anymore. Of the small portable inflatables, air floors out sell floorboard boats by 50 to 1. You can make a case for any PVC boat because they are cheap. You just need to understand and expect it to be a dumpster baby in 5 to 10 years. Hypalon will last anywhere from 20 to 30 years, but few people want to keep looking at the same inflatable after 10 years. We sell tons of both to people depending on the simple initial cost versus life expectancy.

This thread has more than 10 replies.
Click here to review the whole thread.